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Constitutional referendum will be on ballot in Delafield

City of Delafield — The common council, after a spirited debate, voted 4-2 on Monday, July 18, to put a binding referendum on the November ballot asking residents whether there should be a U.S. constitutional amendment to permit the regulation of...

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Constitutional referendum will be on ballot in Delafield

Kelly Smith, Now Media Group
Published 8:01 a.m. CT July 19, 2016

Earlier this summer, Delafield City Clerk Sara Bruckman and Deputy Clerk Jeanne O'Brien review a resolution presented by Barbara Begale (right) and three other members of Delafield United to Amend. The resolution calls for elimination of money’s influence in elections nationwide. This week, the common council voted to send the resolution to binding referendum in November.

City of Delafield — The common council, after a spirited debate, voted 4-2 on Monday, July 18, to put a binding referendum on the November ballot asking residents whether there should be a U.S. constitutional amendment to permit the regulation of campaign contributions.

The resolution will say that only humans, not corporations, unions, nonprofit organizations or similar associations are entitled to constitutional rights.

In addition, the resolution will declare that 'money is not speech; therefore, regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.'

If voters approve the referendum, the common council will be required to 'instruct our state and federal representatives to enact resolutions and legislation to advance this effort' under a state law that allows citizens to adopt ordinances and resolutions through referendum vote.

In Wisconsin, if voters gather a sufficient number of petition signatures they can require local governments to either adopt propositions or ordinances or place them on the ballot in binding referendums.

A citizens group led by Gerald K. Flakas and Barbara Begale collected 667 valid signatures, enough to meet the state requirements for placing a direct-legislation proposition on the ballot, according to City Clerk Sara Bruckman.

However, City Attorney Jim Hammes, in a letter to the council, questioned whether the resolution qualifies as direct legislation. He suggested the city might want to put the resolution to a vote in a nonbinding referendum.

But he warned the council it could face legal ramifications if it either failed to adopt the resolution with a council vote or failed to make it a binding referendum.

Need for change

Flakas and Begale told the common council that big-money campaign contributions are corrupting American's political system.

Begale expressed concern that she is seeing traits in American politics that are similar to when the Nazis took over Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Begale migrated to the United States from Germany as a teenager and said her grandfather was held in a Nazi concentration camp.

The ability for Congress to regulate and limit campaign contributions was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in its decision on Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission.

Flakas explained that the resolution is part of a national movement to amend the U.S. Constitution so state and federal legislatures can adopt laws regulating campaign contributions.

Legislatures in three-fourths of the states must approve any constitutional amendments.

The last major attempt to amend the constitution was in the 1970s and 1980s when the proposed Equal Rights Amendment failed to win approval by enough states.

Appropriate action for council?

Common Council President Tim Aicher and Alderman Chris Smith argued that putting the resolution on the ballot was not an appropriate action by the common council because it dealt with federal, not city, issues.

'I don't believe this is within the spirit of direct legislation,' said Aicher, who suggested direct-legislation propositions must deal with issues that are within the city's jurisdiction.

'I applaud your effort 100 percent,' Smith told the citizens. 'But this has nothing to do with the issues that we face on the council.'

Council members Jackie Valde and Al Zietlow rebutted that the council could not ignore the number of signatures on the petitions calling for the referendum.

'It is our job to express the opinions of our residents,' Valde argued.

Valde and Zietlow were joined by Kent Attwell and Jim Behrend in voting for the direct-legislation resolution.

Mayor Michele DeYoe, who votes only to break ties, was ill and unable to attend the meeting. Alderman Matthew Grimmer also could not attend the meeting.

History of direct legislation

This is not the first time a direct-legislation proposition has been on the ballot in the city.

About 12 years ago, a group of citizens led by Jim Zahorik successfully passed a direct-legislation proposition that requires referendum approval for any capital project that has construction costs exceeding $1 million.

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